What Have You Done?
by Phantom Creedy Lover
Summary: Under revamp. See Author's note in last chapter.
1. Never Walk Alone

**A/N: I don't own Batman, yada yada yada, enjoy. This is mostly movieverse but does go into the comics a bit. There will be no romance in this whatsoever. More of a friendship kinda thing that takes a while to develop. Anyways, read and drop me a line, tell me what you think.**

A twenty-three year old young woman by the name of Sara Gordon with brown hair and navy blue eyes was in the corner of her living room, throwing punches at a punching bag. Her father… her _real_ father, Henri Ducard had always told her keep practicing fighting to keep her skills going, and she still went by what he said, even six months after his death. She knew he had done some shady things, but saying that she hated him for it would be a lie. There was still respect for him in her heart. However, she still had yet to learn how wrong she was for trusting him. Even after giving her up 'for her own good' thirteen years ago, he had still made frequent visits to her to train her, keep her in check. She was sad to lose him when he gave her up, but at the same time, she was grateful because she was now the adopted daughter of James "Jim" Gordon. Jim treated her like she was his own flesh and blood, and she would never forget that. Sara delivered a right hook to the punching bag in front of her just as there was a knock on her apartment door. "It's open!" she called.

Jim stepped through and couldn't help but chuckle, seeing her in front of the bag. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I actually let you and Barbara be tomboys,"

Sara smiled at him. "Aw, don't worry, dad. We still love you for it,"

"How long will that last, I wonder?" Jim muttered.

Sara rolled her eyes. "Did you come for dinner or to complain?"

Jim looked back into her kitchen and sniffed the air, then sighed. "That depends if we're even going to be having dinner, now,"

Sara froze, trying to figure out what he meant, then caught the smell of smoke coming from the kitchen. "SHIT!" she ran back into the kitchen and over to the stove, seeing that the string beans were burning. "Well… we still have chicken and pasta,"

Jim chuckled. "That's fine for me,"

"Good," Sara took the beans off the stove and set them aside before checking on the other food. Satisfied with it, she turned around and put it out on two plates before bringing them inside the living room. "Sit," she offered, motioning at the couch and coffee table.

"Thanks," Jim took one of the plates from her and sat down, joined by her a couple of seconds later.

She started eating. "So… what's new with Batman?"

Jim chuckled. "You don't waste a moment, do you?"

"I'm curious, dad. It seems like you're the only one who trusts him here in Gotham, and… that honestly worries me sometimes,"

Jim's smile faded. "It may not seem like it, but he is a good man, Sar," he told her.

"I don't know…" Sara stared down at the food in front of her.

"Well don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. I promise you I'll be alright," he took her hand gently and squeezed it. "He keeps Gotham as safe as possible, that's what matters, and that's 'what he's been up to'. There's no new main threats. They've all been taken care of. You've got to give him credit for that,"

"It's not in my nature to. Before you, I was taught to question a lot, and not trust many people," she saw the slight hurt in Jim's eyes. "But you've taught me otherwise, and I know that works as well, so I'll try supporting him. How's that?"

"That's my girl," Jim nodded.

They soon changed the subject, talking more about how he was and what else was going on in his life. They had just managed to finish eating and get the dishes washed when Jim's cell phone rang. He sent her an apologetic look before picking it up. "Gordon… alright, I'll be right there. I just have to see to something," he hung up and looked at Sara. "I was wrong. I guess there is a new breed of criminal out there. Heavily armed. Just gunned down an entire street. I'm gonna meet my men down there. Can I ask you to do something? Can you turn-"

"On the bat signal?" Sara cut him off and smiled as he sighed. He had asked her many times before, so she didn't understand why he seemed so surprised every time she cut him off. "I'm on my way. You better get going, too,"

Jim nodded, and before long, they were already headed in their own directions.

A few minutes later, she had reached the police building and headed for the roof, accompanied by one of the officer's she had become friends with. She turned on the signal, then looked up as the light lit up a section of the sky, and a bat showed up in the middle of the light. "Let's hope he still comes through," she muttered. She looked at the officer. "Thanks, Grace," she nodded before starting her way back down the street. She had just about gotten a block away from her car before she looked back at the bat signal. "I hope you're right, dad," she muttered before turning around. She noticed something was wrong. She had just had a decent amount of light behind her, but it was gone when she turned around. "What on earth…?" she turned around, just in time to hear someone mutter 'It's her' and something fly straight at her face. _Note to self, never walk down a lit street when no one's around. The light never evens things out._ With that thought, her world suddenly became blurry before going completely black.


	2. Full of Suprises

**A/N: Thanks to the people who reviewed and put this on their story alert lists. Anyway, very very brief couple of Dark Knight spoilers in this chap. Don't own Batman, only own the things you don't recognize. **

Two days later, Jim was staring down the two notes in front of him. One was from the bastards who had taken Sara, which read '_We have your daughter. No cops. No ransom is needed. Just have Batman by the old factory by the S.S. Traveler by sundown tomorrow, or your dear Sara gets it_', while the second was from Batman, which was more simple and shorter. It had a news article from the previous day before with a picture of Sara telling of her disappearance, then Batman had simply written 'Leave her to me. I'll spring their trap' under her picture. He wouldn't admit it, but he was torn. He knew that deep down, unlike his other officers, he could trust the Caped Crusader, but at the same time, he wanted to recover his daughter on his own. His family or just plain trust. He slammed his fists down on the table and cursed. He hated when it had to come between those two things. Another thing he had to decide was if he should actually get cops or not. What bothered him more was that the fact that Batman seemed to know it was a setup for him. He also hated that the people holding his adopted daughter had her in a warehouse. Everything bad always happened in a warehouse. He had the Joker and others to thank for that. He shook his head. That wasn't the point. _God, just let her be alright_.

--

On the other side of town, Sara was just coming out of conciousness. "Ugh. Where am I?" she murmured to herself. She looked around as her vision cleared and studied her surroundings. It wasn't much. It was a room in what looked like a factory. Her eyes settled on a man who was just getting to his feet. She took a moment to study him. He was tall, but built up by a lot of muscle. She smirked, knowing that he was probably against her and one of the people who probably brought her to where she was. _Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall_.

"Well lookie here, looks like Princess Gordon's awake,"

"Is that a problem?" her smirk grew as she got to her feet.

"Pretty much. You see, we want you outta the picture before Batman shows up. We wanna get your daddy right between the eyes, both with his greatest weapon, and one of his greatest treasures," the man pulled out a gun. "I can see the headlines now "Gordon Left Daughter Defenseless" "Commissioner Can't Protect Own Daughter" "Commissioner Mourns Daughter He Couldn't Save"

Sara laughed. "Well, you see, there are a couple of things you should've given more thought into with that…"

The man smiled. "Are there?"

"Yeah. One: If you really wanted to hurt Gordon, you should've gone for his real bloodline, two: You should never leave a hostage unbound, and three: who says I need protecting?"

The man had just enough time to shoot one bullet out of his gun before Sara had lunged at him and tackled him to the ground, grabbing his gun and slamming it against his face, knocking him out. "Well, at least one saying was true," she patted him down for more weapons, pocketing a switchblade he had, then got a better grip on his gun. She smiled. ".45, not bad, Muscle Man," she went over to the door and threw it open, bringing the arm holding the gun up, then made a fist under it. For once in her life she was grateful that Jim had dragged her to a shooting range when she was twenty-one to help her protect herself. She looked right then left. Satisfied that the coast was temporarily clear, she went left and down the flight of metal stairs, looking around every so often. She turned quickly when she heard yelling, then heard someone cock a gun a few feet away, then fire it. She threw herself down when she heard the bullet hit the metal railing inches from her arm. "Shit!" she fired her gun then backed up after she was clear of the railing. When her back hit something, she whirled around, not expecting to see a mass of black and grey. "What the-" she heard someone tell her 'Bad idea' then she was suddenly shoved aside. She stumbled a bit too much so she hit the railing hard, getting the wind knocked out of her. After a few moments she finally came to just in time to have someone grab her from behind. Instinctively, she kicked back and went to turn around and deliver another kick. What she didn't count on was having her leg twisted by the one who had gripped her shoulders. "SON OF A BITCH!" she dropped the ground to make the person drop her, then pushed herself upright quickly and did a one-eighty and went to deliver a punch, but the person grabbed her hand again. She finally got a good look at her attacker, not expecting to see who she saw. Batman was staring back at her, an annoyed expression on his face.

"I'm on your side," he snarled.

"Yeah right, then why did you twist my leg?!" she went to punch him with her other hand, but it was caught again.

"You don't learn quick, do you?" he demanded.

"Who said I wasn't counting on that?" she demanded and brought her knee up quickly, knocking him backwards and onto his back.

The Dark Knight stared at her briefly, not believing he was panting. "I know those moves and attack speed anywhere," realization hit him quickly and he couldn't help but smirk again. "You're not quite a blood Gordon, are you, Sara? I highly doubt that he'd like who you learned them from,"

"What's it to you, and what do you mean with 'who I learned them from'?" Sara demanded, going to deliver a kick, but he rolled out of the way, and the next thing she knew, he had pinned her to the wall, his right hand at her neck.

"Since we don't have company yet, I might as well get the facts. You learned them from Henri Ducard, Ra's Al Ghul,"

"Ra's Al Ghul? Are you freaking kidding me? He's not Ra's Al Ghul. He would never bring down Gotham like Al Ghul did!" Sara began.

"So you DO know him," Batman smirked. "Who are you to him? Apprentice? Student? Friend? I have to say, I thought I was the only one he taught like that,"

Sara scowled as realization dawned on her. It only took her moments to figure out what all of Gotham was still trying to figure out. "Wayne!" she snarled. Henri had told her only of one other student. One that 'measured up to her incredibly'. She didn't believe him that he could've trained the playboy Bruce Wayne, but now it actually made sense.

Bruce smirked. " He did let slip my identity after all. You must be more than an apprentice, then. Daughter? Niece? Gordon will be even more surprised to hear that,"

"He only said he trained you. Now after you said that as Batman, it's not that hard to figure out. I mean, come on. Bruce Wayne slamming his Lamborghini into a 4x4 that was gonna hit Reiss' car, and he didn't know who was in it? A bit too far fetched for me, and let's not forget the times Wayne disappeared for a while and Batman showed up. As far as I'm concerned, you tell him, and I tell him who you are," Sara replied, going to deliver a kick to his chest.

Bruce grabbed her foot. "What makes you think I wouldn't catch your foot again?" he demanded. "We were trained by the best… who turned out being the worst. You didn't answer me. I gave in and pretty much gave myself away. I know Gordon wouldn't raise a fool. I know I can count on you to keep my identity secret, let's hear yours. What are you to Ducard?" he snarled.

Sara smirked. "Who said I'm not that transparent as you?"

Bruce's grip tightened on her neck. "Do you really think I'm that much of a fool? He taught us to be observant. You have his eyes. Too dark to be Gordon's… you're his daughter, aren't you?"

"Again, what's it to you?" Sara replied.

Bruce scoffed. "I was wrong. You're nothing like Gordon,"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just a little on edge from getting shot at then pretty much getting mauled by Gotham's Dark Knight, so excuse me if I come across as a bitch right now!" she snapped, then let out a yelp when he dropped her suddenly hearing automatic fire.

Bruce shoved her behind a few crates. "Stay here!" he ordered.

"Hey, you just pretty much said it yourself: I'm as good as you. We had the same trainer. I can take care of my-" she began, but he was already gone. "Asshole," she muttered.

The man who had shot before approached. "Where'd your boyfriend go, girlie? Why don't you come outta hiding? I'm not gonna hurt ya,"

Sara got up from behind the crates. "Bullshit,"

The man laughed. "I'm surprised you came. Usually girls like you would cower in their hiding spots,"

"Oh, I'm full of surprises!" Sara smiled before shooting at him. She managed to see another man come out of one of the rooms, but before she could send a couple of rounds in his direction, she saw Bruce come down from the rafters and take down the first who shot, then ran and took down the second.

He turned and rushed towards her. "I hope you're good with heights," he muttered before grabbing her around the waist and jumping over the railing. He planned to get them down two floors to the first level, but he didn't plan on seeing a net suddenly come out of nowhere under him just before he reached the first floor.

Sara grunted when he released her when they hit the net, which had bounced upright and enclosed them when they hit it. "Any new bright-bat ideas?"

Bruce smirked. "Let's just say that you're not the only one full of surprises,"

Before Sara could even respond, she heard the sound of ripping rope, and then she fell down the first level. "Oh shit, that's gonna hurt in the morning," she muttered.

Bruce pulled her to her feet. "Complain later, move now,"

Sara looked around. "Where? There's not many places to go!" she replied, throwing herself at one of the concrete supports as there was more gunfire from above accompanied by yells that they had escaped.

Bruce looked at her. "I wouldn't stay there if I were you,"

"Why?" Sara asked, but once again she was taken by surprised when the wall in front of her practically exploded and a black tank looking vehicle came through the smoke. She recognized it as the Batmobile. "Of course,"

Bruce took something off his belt then slapped it on one of the walls. _I'm going to have to keep tabs on this place_. _These men will be back_. "Get in!" he ordered.

Sara didn't need to hear more gunfire to obey and got into it, followed soon by Bruce. A moment later they were speeding away from the place.

A few minutes of silence passed between them until Bruce broke it. "I'm not sending you back to Gordon just yet. You and I have to talk,"

Sara nodded. "Fine by me,". She was waiting for something like that. Another time of silence passed. She broke it this time. "I'm sorry about back there. I… owe you an apology for acting like that. I really should be grateful for you saving my ass,"

Bruce didn't look at her, but replied. "There's the Gordon in you,"

Sara let in a breath this time. "Yeah… it's just… I wasn't sure if I could trust you, and no offense, but you throwing me around to get answers wasn't helping your chances but now that we're outta there, like I said, you saved my ass, so…"

"You shouldn't be so quick to trust," Bruce pointed out.

Sara couldn't help but laugh. "You said it yourself, I'm a Gordon. That's just what we do, even if it doesn't work out too well. You're one of the most wanted men in Gotham, but my adopted father still trusts and respects you no matter what his duty is and what other cops think… my blood father has a totally different outlook,"

Bruce glanced at her. "So Ducard _is_ your real father,"

Sara nodded slowly. "He gave up full care of me when I was thirteen. That's how I came into the Gordon family. Jim raised me, but Henri kept seeing me. Training me in ninjitsu. That's why I haven't quite lost my touch, if you will… well, in his six month disappearance…"

Bruce's mouth twitched. She didn't know he was dead, or even that he had technically killed him. "Why suddenly reveal of your past to me?"

"I hate awkward silences, and I pretty much figured out who you are behind that mask because I had that extra bit of information… now I practically know everything … important, if you will, about you … you might as well know my story… if you really are Bruce Wayne,"

Bruce glanced at her before taking his mask off. He looked back at her, then spoke, using his normal voice. "Happy?" he had to admit he was surprised when she took it in strides and didn't start screaming, or faint. She just stared at him. He nodded, satisfied with her reaction after a while and put the mask back on.

Sara blinked, then looked away and laughed once. "You were actually telling the truth. I wasn't expecting it to really be you… I thought you were just setting… well, _you_ up. Giving the least possible candidate's name,"

Bruce looked back out of the narrow windshield. "Well, you and I have a few things in common. To me, that makes a mutual trust… where nothing is revealed to others, _including_ _Gordon_,"

Sara nodded slowly. "Your secret's safe with me," she paused, and then laughed again.

Bruce glanced at her. "What?"

"I still can't believe you're Batman. Here I am talking to the richest playboy of Gotham who I always thought would never lift a finger for anyone, and as far as I can see, you just saved my life… plus the fact you look like shit with that eye-makeup on,"

"Right. First of all, I'm not quite proud of that title 'playboy'. Second, I provide for more than half this city," Bruce replied. He paused and looked down, seeing one of the panels of the mobile light up. "Cops. Hold on,"

" 'Hold on'? How fast can this thing go?" Sara asked, then winced when she was forced further back into her seat.

When he drove into a tunnel, he glanced at her. "You took that better than Gordon did,"

Sara raised her eyebrows. "I'm surprised he didn't have a heart attack… and since when did this thing have two seats? Jim told me that it only had one…"

"New builder," Bruce replied simply before turning another corner. A few seconds later they were out of the tunnel and heading for a shipyard.

Sara glanced back out of the windshield, then let out a yell of alarm when she saw that they were headed for an open storage container. "Are you nuts?! Slow down!"

Bruce chuckled. "Oh relax,"

Sara looked back at the container. "Oh yeah, you're Bruce Wayne: Thrill Seeker alright,"

Bruce smiled again when she winced, waiting for impact, watching her open up one eye slowly when he hit the brakes in the middle of the crate. "You can relax now," he told her as they slowly made their way down into the testing room. He took off the mask yet again.

"Is that a fact?" Sara asked weakly, looking around.

"Yeah," Bruce nodded, getting out of the Batmobile.

Sara slowly did the same and looked around.

Alfred, who had come to ask Bruce about his progress in his rescue mission, didn't expect to see her. "…Miss. Gordon?" he asked slowly. He had met her through Rachel since the girls had gone out to eat once and he had seen them together. He didn't count on seeing her come out of the Batmobile with Bruce unmasked.

Sara saw him and froze. How could the older man she had met who didn't even seem to act his age be involved with Batman? "Alfred?! You know that…?" but before either of the men knew it, she had fainted.

Bruce glanced at her before going to pick her up. When he did, he looked up at Alfred. "Funny. That was the reaction I was expecting from her when I took off my mask,"

**A/N: More Bruce/Sara conversation in the next chapter. I know Bruce and Sara seemed a bit quick to trust each other and for Bruce to show his real identity, but again, a life threatening situation would probably do that to you, as well as the possibility for blackmail on both of their parts. Anyway, hoped you liked the chap. Drop a line or a few, tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but flames aren't. **


	3. Notes

**4everOptimistic: Ha, you're lucky I know you in the real world and we're good friends or I'd totally be lost with what you asked. I did respond to you, though? Right? Right. If I didn't, well, he has another kid… and of course you can note something.**

**Thanks to everyone else who reviewed. Enjoy the chap.**

A couple of hours later, Sara slowly pulled herself upright after waking up, trying to get in her surroundings without blinding herself because the walls of the room around her were almost all glass, and sunlight was pouring into the room. She looked down and saw that she was lying on what seemed like a leather couch. _Hm. That's better than what I passed out on. _She glanced at the other side of the room when she heard echoing footsteps, then Alfred came into view, a tray of tea in his hands.

Alfred smiled. "Ah, Miss. Gordon, you're awake. Good," he went over to her, then set the tray down in front of her.

"Mr. Pennyworth…" Sara said groggily. She sat up and rubbed the back of her neck. "Where am I?"

"Master Wayne's Penthouse, Miss. Gordon," Alfred replied. "Would you like a cup of tea or do you still go for coffee more than life itself?" he asked.

Sara chuckled. The last time he had seen her, she had been gulping down coffee with Rachel, drinking it like there was no tomorrow, because it was the middle of Winter and she was freezing. "I go for both, and I'd love some, but only if you call me Sara and not Miss. Gordon; Miss. Gordon makes me sound like my foster mother,"

Alfred smiled. "Fine, and I'll give you a cup, only if you call me Alfred,"

"You've got yourself a deal," Sara nodded as Alfred handed her a cup of tea. "Thank you,"

Alfred just stared for a moment, grinning like an idiot.

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Uh…"

Alfred shook his head. "I'm sorry, I just haven't heard 'thank you' in a while. I pretty much told Master Bruce to act like an arrogant ass, and it's starting to get to his head," he explained.

Sara chuckled. "Speaking of Bruce, where-"

"Is he? Making a call to your father. Came up with a story that was so insane that it was believable, if you ask me,"

Sara smiled again. "Care to fill me in?"

Alfred nodded. "The men who had you decided to change a few things. To set Batman up, they changed their location, and it turned out to be right around Wayne Penthouse. Your two main injuries were getting your shoulder dislocated…" he tried to disguise the smile that came when Sara's jaw dropped in a pained expression. "…and you received a large gash to the same arm. Since you didn't have armor and the wound seemed deep, Batman figured to get you patched up, and the closest area to do that was Wayne Penthouse. Bruce 'graciously accepted' and is having you patched up 'as we speak'"

Sara opened her mouth again to ask about how she would go home without a gash, then Alfred pointed at her right arm. She looked down, seeing a bandage around part of her bicep, where there was a large reddish brown stain visible through the bandage. It spanned a good amount of it, too. "What the hell?! Did that really happen?!"

"No, Miss… er… Sara. It's an old trick I used for Master Bruce whenever he tried to get out of something. Barbeque sauce and a bunch of other odds and ends watered down then soaked into the bandage… yes, it works,"

Sara raised her eyebrows, snorted, then looked back at the bandage. "… It looks real,"

"I know. I was the one who made it and put it on you and it still scared the willies out of me," Alfred replied with a chuckle.

Sara smiled and shook her head. "And you used this on Bruce?"

"Bruce?! Heavens no! I always had two volunteers. One to wear something like that, and another that did that to the 'injured' one. I threatened that I'd have the assailant to that to Bruce if he backed out of something important,"

Sara paused, then snorted, not able to hold in the laughter. "I guess I owe you thanks, too," she told him.

"There's where Gordon went right,"

Sara looked over Alfred's shoulder and saw Bruce walking into the room, holding a large envelope.

"How are you?" Bruce asked.

"Better than I was," Sara replied.

Bruce smiled out of the corner of his mouth, then walked forward and put down the envelope on the table beside the tea tray.

Alfred looked between them. "I'll leave you two alone," he got up and headed for the door.

"Thanks, Alfred!" Bruce called after him, then looked back at Sara, then sat on the couch opposite her. After a while of silence, he chuckled. "You know, you have talk to Gordon about how gullible he is"

"Hey, he's not gullible all the time. He trusts _Batman_. That's why he believed it. I'm not sure what he thinks about you as Bruce, though,"

Bruce shrugged. "Well, then that's a problem I'll have to deal with. Like you said, you would think it would be questionable why I slammed a Lamborghini into a 4x4 to protect the guy threatening to reveal the true identity of Batman, but… who knows? He's coming to pick you up because he wants to talk to you about what happened,"

After Sara nodded, another silence fell between them until Bruce broke it yet again. He slid the envelope forward towards her. "I know you don't want to believe me, but you need to know the truth. I don't need one Gordon secretly on my side, and another against me," he tapped it. "A few months ago when we were dealing with the Joker, we had a few things burned. I kept this because I felt I needed it for my own knowledge,"

Sara raised an eyebrow, then opened the envelope, looking at its contents. There were a bunch of what looked like diary entries, then photographs, then what she recognized as the flower. She looked closer at the photographs, seeing Ducard and Ra's Al Ghul in most of them. She looked back at Bruce with a questioning expression.

Bruce shook his head. "Look them over. I know you don't want to believe me, but your real father is Ra's… I should know… I fought him a while ago, and he admitted it to me,"

"But… we were still close, even if he gave up legal custody… why didn't he tell me, then?" Sara asked. She was still skeptical.

"Easy. Protection," Bruce replied. "Or fear,"

Sara frowned at the last part, then noticed the way that he sat back, then shifted uncomfortably. "You're hiding something. What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing," Bruce said, a bit too quickly. "I'm telling you all I know, and you'll find out more and what I may've missed by looking over those. Do whatever you need to the items in there," he shoved the envelope into her arms, then went over to a speaker when Alfred's voice, slightly mangled by static, came from it. "What was that?" he turned around when he saw Sara was staring at him, and still even felt her eyes boring into the back of his skull.

"Commissioner Gordon is here," Alfred repeated.

Bruce pressed a button. "She'll be right down," he said into it, then looked at her. "Come by after you've had a good look through those,"

Sara got up. "No! Wayne, what are you- WHOA!" she looked down when she felt the tile with a large 'W' that she was on start descending. "What the hell is this, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense?!"

Bruce smirked. "Watch your hands and elbows,"

Sara looked around for any option to get off of the tile-turned-elevator, but she figured she was already too low that if she tried anything, she would break something. "This isn't over!"

"I have no doubt," Bruce called, but he had already turned and started walking away.

When Sara finally reached the bottom level and got out of the building, Needless to say, Sara was relieved to see Jim waiting for her. "I'm fine, dad, really," she returned the hug when he pulled her against him.

"I thought I lost you," Jim muttered against her shoulder.

"Well, you're stuck with me for a while longer," she replied.

Jim pulled back, and then looked at Bruce when the younger man stepped outside. "You never cease to amaze me, Mr. Wayne. This time taking in someone because Batman asked you to?"

"I've done some thinking. Batman's trying to help all in all isn't he? I wasn't going to pass up a chance to help out a gorgeous girl, either, so, just doing my job," Bruce replied.

Jim's smile faded at the last part. He nodded a farewell, then took Sara's arm and led her towards the car.

Sara got into the co-passenger seat and glanced back at Bruce, who simply raised his head slightly before walking back inside the penthouse. She watched him go until he was out of sight since Jim had already started driving.

"You know, sometimes I really don't know about him," Jim told her.

Sara laughed. "Well, I guess you gotta look past his negatives and pay attention to his positives,"

Jim sighed. "Sometimes I regret teaching you that,"

"Well, even if that was originally about Batman, it helped with Bruce, so I don't see any problem," Sara shrugged. _Yeah, helped in more ways then one._

Jim nodded, then looked back at the road. "Who do you think did this? Maroni?"

Sara closed her eyes and shook her head. "I wish I could tell you, but I can't. I got knocked out, woke up in a warehouse, people tried to kill me, so I got injured, Batman saved me, then got to Wayne. And here I am now,"

"Thank God for that," Jim agreed.

--

A few minutes later, Jim had arrived at her apartment and let her out. Sara had varying opinions about the fact that he had stationed a couple of police officers at her door for protection. She went into her living room, threw herself down onto the couch and emptied the contents of the envelope onto her coffee table and leaned over it, observing what the contents were. When her black lab Ardeth came into the room, she gave him a quick scratch behind the ears before going back to her business. There were several notes, photographs, and the infamous blue flower. She still didn't know what type it was, and she didn't want to. She had to find it when she was sixteen, and even when she got back to the building Ducard was in, she still thought she was going to die. She looked over the photographs, seeing they were pictures of Ra's Al Ghul, Ducard, various people in ninja garb, and the area in general. She moved on to the notes and picked one up, scanning it. She realized it was a part of a journal entry. She started reading it, wishing she had the first page.

_**Tonight wasn't much different. I got beaten to a pulp and then required to continue into the early morning, where I barely got any sleep anyway. Ducard says this will help me. At this rate, I honestly don't know how. I'm starting to miss home. My real home. I wonder what Alfred's doing right now. Probably cleaning up some mess I made years back. I'd be lying if I said I don't miss the man. I'm getting a lot of odd looks from the people around me. I don't know why. I have a feeling Ra's has something to do with it. The man is still a mystery. I still have much to understand. I only hope I understand soon.**_

Sara looked away from the entry when she heard an all-too-familiar voice yelling at one of the cops. She went over to the door and opened it. "Phillips, thanks, but really, it's alright," she looked at her visitor. "Cat," she greeted the grinning woman in front of her.

Caterina Church laughed. "Hey, sister from another mother!" she hugged Sara.

Sara rolled her eyes and hugged her back, then looked down, seeing a giant black bag at Caterina's feet. "Uh…"

Caterina looked at the bag, then shrugged. "Boyfriend and I split. Can I crash here for a while? Thanks," she elbowed her way inside.

Sara sighed. "Sure," she said to the space that Caterina had occupied seconds before. She cast a glance at the two officers before shutting the door. "How long do you think you're gonna be?"

Caterina shrugged. "Dunno," she sat down in the living room, then looked at the envelope. "What's this?" she asked, leaning forward.

"Nothing. A friend of mine gave it to me… she's a prop master for an upcoming film, she wanted me to check the props out," Sara lied quickly.

Caterina poked the flower. "Pretty,"

"Yeah," Sara agreed, putting everything back in the envelope, then walking into the kitchen and put it down on the counter. She spotted the trash and remembered it went out the next morning. "Be right there, taking the trash out!" she called.

"Sure!" Caterina replied.

Sara took the trash and went out the back door, going down the stairs and dropping it in the dumpster. She made her way back up the stairs then went to open the door when she spotted a reflection of something that appeared behind her. She realized it was the reflection of a masculine chest. "Shit!" she turned and went to deliver a kick, then stopped and let out a sharp exhale when her foot was caught by the man, who was now laughing. "I swear to God, Bruce!" she yelled at him and set her foot down when he let it go.

Bruce laughed again, getting his balance back again since he was balancing on the stair railing. "You actually go all the way down the stairs and put the trash in? That's no fun. I thought you would've just chucked it from here,"

"I. Don't. Care. From now on if you wanna pay me a visit, knock, or wear Batman's cape at all times, or have something that can catch wind and slow a fall from now on,"

Bruce snorted. "Why?"

"Because that'll give you a better chance at landing lighter than you would because next time, I'm gonna push you off the goddamn railing after you block my first attack!"

Bruce put his hands up in surrender, then got off the railing and set his feet down on the porch like four-foot by five-foot area. "Did you look through what I gave you?"

"Some of it, the pictures and the flower, but not much of the journal entries,"

"Why not?" Bruce asked.

"Because I have a life, Bruce. I can't spend my whole evening checking the stuff out. Besides, a friend just showed up at my door, and-" she paused, seeing Bruce suddenly jump back quickly. "What?" she turned, seeing Ardeth. She looked back at Bruce and grinned. "_Batman_ is afraid of dogs?"

"Bruce Wayne is, Batman's working on it," Bruce replied indignantly.

Sara rolled her eyes. "Don't worry. Ardy is friendly," she patted the dog. "Aren't ya, Ardy?" she looked at Bruce. "Come here," she motioned for him to come over, then frowned when he looked away. "Get your ass over here,"

Bruce groaned and stepped forward a couple of times.

Ardeth whined and went over to Bruce. The dog sniffed him a couple of times, then licked his hand.

Sara grinned. "See? He's not that bad,"

"He's not, other dogs are," Bruce slowly started petting Ardeth's head.

"Well, here's where you start getting over your fear. You're welcome," Sara smirked.

Bruce shot her a look, then straightened out. "Come back to the Penthouse when you've given those things a good look, alright?"

"Sure," Sara nodded.

Bruce smiled weakly, then waved and left.

Sara smiled and shook her head, then looked at Ardeth. "If he wasn't scared of dogs, I would've told you to bite him any time you see him,"

Ardeth whined again.

Sara laughed, then nudged him inside.

"What was that cursing about?" Catherine asked, still in the living room.

"Oh, didn't expect Ardeth to come out of the apartment with me. I nearly tripped over him,"

"I could've sworn I heard another voice out there,"

"You always had an overactive imagination," Sara replied, walking into the living room. She sat down and turned on her stereo, letting Keith Urban's singing break the silence in the room. She groaned and leaned back on the sofa. She had a feeling the next few days would be interesting. She didn't know that it would get even more interesting starting the following morning.


	4. Shadow Man

**A/N: Alright, you may have seen it in the new summary, but if you haven't, I got a request to make this fic have a Bruce/OC and Joker/OC2 romance, so it will end up being Bruce/Sara and Joker/?? After all, which is why I changed the title of the fic, so ignore the A/N that said it wouldn't be (sigh) Enjoy. Oh, and I also apologize for Joker's little rhyme/song later in the chap. I was tired and not feeling creative… okay, I'll leave you to read now.**

The next morning, Sara woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She felt around for it. When she found it, she brought it up to her ear without turning over or opening her eyes. " Yeah-low?" she asked groggily.

"Turn on one of the news channels. Now."

"Bruce? How'd you-"

"Alfred. You. T.V…. Now!"

"Yes master," Sara grumbled, turning over and getting the TV remote. She flipped to channel 38, and dropped the phone when she saw the headline. She leaned forward and let her jaw drop, now fully awake.

A thin, black-haired newscaster showed up onscreen and tapped a slip of paper on the desk in front of him. "Gotham, I'm Ray McNeill with Channel 38 news. If you have just joined us, we're following the story that the Joker has broken out of Arkham's Aslylum, along with several of the patients there. He has not been spotted since a section of the wall blew up and he and the other patients escaped. We strongly suggest you move about the city with extreme caution if you plan to commute. Stay with this team for continuing coverage of this story as it unfolds,"

Sara's eye twitched. " 'We strongly suggest you move around with caution if you plan to commute?' Are you FREAKING KIDDING ME?!" she threw the remote at the T.V, then picked up the phone.

"I take you've seen what happened?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah,"

"Meet me at the Penthouse. I already sent Alfred to get you,"

"What can I do? An old friend showed up last night, Bruce. You know that. What do you want me to tell her? I can't quite say I'm helping out Batman, you know,"

"Just. Come. Up. With. Something," Bruce growled.

Sara put down the phone when the line went dead. "You're helpful," she muttered, then got up and opened her closet doors. She got a black T-shirt and jeans out, put them on and left the bedroom, going into the kitchen, not expecting to bump into Caterina in the process. "Oh…"

Caterina looked her up and down. "…Well you get ready early," she said matter-of-factly.

"I uh… have to take Jimmy to school. I promised my dad I would," Sara said quickly.

Caterina raised any eyebrow. "Are you crazy? Didn't you hear the Joker escaped?"

"I doubt he's gonna bother with a young woman taking her little brother to school, Cat," Sara replied, slipping a brown leather jacket on.

"But-" Caterina began.

Sara took her friend by the shoulders. "Cathy, I'll be fine," she reassured her before running out the door. She got down the stairs and walked half a block down the road when a limo pulled up. She bent down when the window rolled down, revealing Alfred. "Front seat or back?"

"Whichever," Alfred replied.

Sara opened up the co-passenger door and slipped into the seat beside Alfred. She shrugged when Alfred looked at her like she was insane. "I have this… thing… with the back of limos… it's weird and I don't want to explain it,"

"Ah," Alfred nodded.

Sara crossed her arms over her chest as they drove off. "So why does Bruce want my help?"

"Figures you have good connections, and you fight almost as well as he does. He wants someone like that at his side, without being a sidekick,"

Sara chuckled. "Interesting way of putting it,"

Alfred shrugged. "He 'has a thing' with sidekicks. Expects some kid with a name like Bluejay or something to show up wanting to help him,"

Sara laughed. "Touché,"

The two soon reached the Penthouse and made their way to the basement, where Bruce met them, ready to give them an update on what was going on.

--

On the other side of the city Joker and his 'new recruits', who most of the patients from the asylum, had just robbed a bank, so naturally, Joker was in a very good mood. He flipped through a stack of hundred dollar bills and laughed hysterically. "It never gets old," he chuckled, looking up at one of the televisions that were in the room they were in. The reporter was giving a report on the robbery that had just occurred, and also stating the fact that the police were still trying to hunt down 'The Clown Menace'.

Joker laughed even harder. "Now THAT'S a new one! I like it!" he tapped on the table he was at. "And you cops can keep trying, you won't find me," he added, then saw a two-days-old video clip of Jim talking to the new D.A, Shawn Murphy. "That guy's your best bet… let's hope that new D.A is better than the last one," he took a knife out of his jacket and started twirling it around. "_Harvey, Harvey, Harvey Dent no longer needs to pay his rent. Not even a cent, the poor gent_," he murmured, briefly turning back to the television when the reporter continued.

"Though we haven't heard from him yet, we've gotten reports that he was last seen leaving his foster daughter's home yesterday evening. It is unknown if he is still in Gotham, and- Oh, I stand corrected, there he is now," McNeill restated when Jim showed up in the live video feed, about to address the public. Jim started to explain that they were already getting teams down to hunt down the Joker.

However, Joker didn't seem to be paying attention anymore. "Daughter, huh? Well, Dent had his opportunity to work his magic with that family. He got to play mind tricks with Gordon… now it's my turn. I think I'd like to pay a visit to that little lady,"

" I highly suggest you hold off on her. There are more important matters to deal with,"

Joker turned towards the new voice, but the owner was shrouded in shadow from the dark corner of the room. The light from the television didn't even illuminate him. "I don't quite appreciate the parlor tricks. That's _my_ job,"

"I have no doubt," the voice replied.

Joker squinted, just making out an outline of a rather tall man. "Where the Hell is my guard when you need 'em?"

"You mean him?" the voice asked.

A moment later, there was a thud, and Joker noticed the body of his guard had hit the ground, since it had fallen into the light. He didn't remember the guard's name, but he remembered one thing. "Hm. I was just starting to like him," he looked back at the mystery figure. "So, have you come to kill me?"

"No. I have a proposition,"

Joker leaned forward. "Do tell," he said sarcastically.

"You and I have an… aquiantance in common. Batman. Batman and I have an aquiantance in common. I want to save that aquiantance the trouble of getting mentally and physically destroyed. You can help with that,"

"And how would I do that, Shadow Man?" Joker asked. He was not at all impressed with the newcomer, not in the mood to deal with someone who refused to show their face. He had been down that road before. It was fun. Painful, yes, but fun.

"We eliminate the middle man,"

Joker laced his fingers together when 'Shadow Man' stepped forward. The first thing he noticed was a large scar spanning from the bridge of the man's nose to the bottom of his jaw. "Middle man, sir?" Joker asked. He knew just who the man meant. He was just playing with the newcomer.

"Batman. Gotham would be a lot better without it's Dark Knight," the man replied.

Joker leaned back and smirked. He didn't know why, but he liked the man already. "Couldn't agree more. So… I usually don't go for this kinda thing, but… what's the _plan_?"


	5. You Too?

**A/N: I don't own Batman, yada yada yada, thanks for the reviews. Sorry for the big wait, I'm sure you people have heard my excuse, and I'm working on one of my King Kong fics as I'm working on this, so please ignore it if I accidently confuse Bruce's and have Gotham as Skull Island or you see Dustin or some other unknown name in here. I checked it over and can't find any, but in case I missed one... yeah. Anyways, enjoy.**

When Alfred and Sara reached the Penthouse, Bruce was already waiting for them. He met them halfway in the living room. "What took you so long?"

Alfred raised his eyebrows. "Traffic, sir. You forget there are some of us who can't turn cars into pancakes while driving," he replied.

Bruce smiled a bit. "Fair enough," he looked at Sara. "You stay here. Do anything Alfred tells you to. Don't get cute, just do it. We need all the help we can get. Here," he handed her a small device in the shape of a bat he had been holding.

Sara looked it over. "…And this is…?"

"You'll find out soon. Stay here, turn on the news. See how much they know, see how far we can stay ahead. You see something that we may not like, tell Alfred, because chances are, my communications will be gone. If you check over there, there should be a couple of headsets," Bruce replied, pointing at the table behind them.

Both Alfred and Sara turned and sure enough they were there. They went over and picked them up, then looked back at where Bruce had been, but the spot was vacant.

"Uh…" Sara blinked, then looked at Alfred for an answer.

"He does that," Alfred shrugged.

"And I thought he just did that as Batman," she smiled when he raised an eyebrow. "Sara Gordon, remember? Dad tells me _a lot_,"

"Hm," Alfred nodded. "Well, I believe the remote control's over on the couch. You can't miss the television," He motioned at the opposite wall where the T.V was set up.

"You got that right," Sara turned and walked over to it and turned it on. "So where are you off to?"

Alfred frowned. "With all due respect, Miss, I think Master Bruce believes you've seen and know about all you need to see and know for now, so I don't feel at liberty to tell you. A big reason he trusts your father is that he helped him after his parents were murdered,"

Sara nodded. "No, it's understandable. I wouldn't trust many, either," she turned on 38. "Doesn't look like there are many developments. Joker's disappeared now, streets are quiet,"

"With that man, that could mean something big is planned. Another social experiment," Alfred pointed out.

"Yeah. You go do whatever you gotta do, I'll see about it," Sara offered.

Alfred nodded and went his own way.

--

More time passed, and there still weren't many developments. It was getting nerve-wracking that the Joker actually did seem to disappear, but Bruce had returned home a few hours later and sent her home.

When she got back, she had barely gotten inside the house before she saw two people in the kitchen in front of her fridge, and at first she didn't recognize them, so she screamed until the familiar faces of Caterina and her two other friends Kylie and Monica. "WHAT THE HELL?!" she yelled.

Monica was the first to reply, but the fact that her mouth was stuffed with food didn't help. "Hro tr grow choo!"

Caterina shoved her out of the way. "Aw, come on. I just invited 'em over,"

"And did I say you could?!" Sara demanded, then sighed. She was warn out from the work earlier. "You know, whatever. Why are you here?!"

Monica spat out the food, causing the other three to gag. "Boyfriend kicked me out,"

Sara frowned. "First Cathy, now you?! What's going on? What happened?!"

"We had a fight. Things got pretty physical,"

Sara's frown went from one of anger to worry. "Oh my God! Are you alright? Do you want me to get my dad?"

Monica waved her hand. "Awww, it's okay. I didn't hit him too hard,"

Sara rolled her eyes. "Ugh," she looked at Kylie. "And you?"

Kylie pointed at Caterina. "…She told me you bought a Ferrari. I wanted to see it,"

"I work… as an office assistant… at Gotham General… I nearly DIED when Joker tried to blow the place up. Do I have the pay, and life in general, to own one of those cars, as awesome as it would be?"

Kylie looked from left to right briefly. "…Maybe?"

Sara looked at Caterina. "You. Get in the living room," she looked at Monica. "You. Lighten up," she looked at Kylie. "You. Enough with the Ferraris,"

"But-" Kylie began.

"Sweetie, it's really starting to annoy. Stick with the techie stuff," Sara replied.

Kylie stuck her tongue out at her and went into the living room after Caterina. "So… Why're we in here?"

"You're fine. You I don't need to talk to," she looked at Caterina and Monica. "You two, however…" she looked at Caterina. "This is my place. You're a guest. You wanna have someone visit, tell me," she looked at Monica. "And you… …EASY ON THE FOOD!"

"Awwww," Monica complained. "I have fast metabolism,"

Sara groaned. "You know, just amuse yourself," she turned on the T.V. "Watch. Enjoy,"

"_**And the Joker has struck again, this time taking over an entire city block, threatening to blow it and every person on it up. We wait for an update," **_came the news report.

"Never mind," Sara quickly ran to the T.V, then took out her cell phone, only to remember that she had Bruce nor Alfred's number, and she didn't want to call Wayne Enterprises because it would've been impossible to reach him. She put it down, then let out a yelp when there was a vibration that felt more like a shock at her hip. "SON OF A BITCH!" she looked down, seeing that it had come from the device from before. She glanced up at the other three. "I'm fine," she ran into the kitchen and took the device off her belt loop and set it down. "What's this supposed to do?!" she demanded. As if on cue, the device opened, then projected something on the wall. She gaped at it for a while, then glanced at the message.

_**Get back here, now. If you don't know already, there's a new development, and we can finally trace him. I'm on my way over there. Get to Alfred. Help him help me.**_Sara groaned. "This is my dad's job, not mine," she mumbled, then pocketed the device again. "Scratch that. I gotta run. Don't break anything. I'll be back later!" she grabbed her jacket and ran out the door again, leaving Caterina, Kylie and Monica staring after her.

"That was strange," Kylie mused after a short time of silence.

"Yeah,"

--

Sara had barely managed to get up the stairs to the Penthouse when Alfred came down and started ushering her back down, giving orders to go find her father and spy on him to see what wasn't being released. Finding him wasn't the hard part. It was the spying that was. Sure, when she was in high school and got a few bad grades, thus the teacher calling home. She had always either tried to beat him to the phone, or sat by the steps and leaned against the wall waiting to hear his reaction when he picked up and heard about it. The first time she had gone by the steps, he hadn't seen her and she had managed to come up with an excuse in the meantime before the scolding began, but the next time, Jim had realized where she was, so he ended up tricking her. He walked out of the kitchen, where the phone was, and into the living room. The footsteps had disappeared for a few seconds so she thought she was home free to go in search of him, when she turned around, she had to bite down on her tongue to contain a scream because he was right behind her, eyebrow raised, waiting for an explanation. Two tries later, she started making sure she studied before every test to avoid another situation like that. Now, quite a few years later, she wondered how it would play out. She soon reached the block and gotten as close to the other side of the tape as possible, then ducked behind a reporter she recognized as Mike Engle to try and find Jim in the crowd. When she did, she moved from her spot and went to another, slipping behind one of the walls to a small alley when she heard him walking in her direction. She started muttering to herself, praying that he would pass. She heard him call a "Detective Willis", then saw him trot pass. She let out a sharp exhale and was just about to leave after a few seconds when someone tapped her shoulder. She winced, recognizing the pressure. And she had gotten so close, too. "Hi, Daddy," she turned around slowly.

Sure enough, Jim was right behind her, his arms now crossed, looking at her, waiting for yet another explanation. "What're you doing here?"

"Uh… same as everyone else. Trying to see what's going on,"

"I don't want you around here. Who knows, Joker could be watching this as we speak and see me speaking to you. This may be putting you in danger,"

"Well, there have been countless times that we've been onscreen together, so if he watches, he already knows we know each other, so-"

"Either way he won't. Engle and the others are too focused on getting the scene more than the people,"

Sara sighed, recognizing the voice. It was rough, and just about as bad, if not worse, as nails on a chalkboard. She remembered flinching any time Jim had played a recording of one of his conversations with the owner of the voice to Barbra, trying to prove that the owner was a good man. Jim and Sara looked around for the voice, then spotted the Caped Crusader on the railing of a fire escape a floor above them.

Jim sighed. "You too. People see you here, there'll be trouble,"

"More than there already is where I'm concerned?" Bruce asked, though it was a rhetorical question.

Jim sighed. "S.W.A.T's still searching for explosives everywhere," he informed them, but it was directed more at Bruce. "…_You_ find anything yet?"

"No," Bruce replied. "Nothing on the right side at all. I haven't checked left yet, though. I'm sure I can-"

"Don't," Jim cut him off. "… With all due respect, I think it's better S.W.A.T handles the rest," he put his hands in his pockets.

"Fair enough," Bruce agreed.

Jim nodded, then looked at Sara, then back to Bruce. "You two know each other. Get her home. If there really is something, at least I'll know she's far away if the explosion happens," he walked away without another word.

"…Great," Sara sighed. "… You couldn't have _warned me_ he saw me?!" she hissed upwards at Bruce, but when she saw the smirk that came to his face, she mentally kicked herself, realizing that it was his tell to his real identity. She was usually good at figuring things like that out, and it didn't hit her that it was him until he mentioned Ducard. _Damn being wrong_. "… I hate you so much right now,"

"You're welcome. Now, let's go,"


	6. Who Are You?

**A/N: Ah, sorry for the giant gap between updates. I also apologize this is a really short chapter. I'm pressed for time. I don't own Batman, blah blah blah.**

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Jim was just making sure everything was in order around the scene when he felt a tug on the bottom of his right pants leg. He looked down and moved his foot to see what it was, seeing a small piece of metal sticking out from the fabric, pinning it to the dirt floor. He sighed, recognizing the shape of a bat it had been shaped into. He sighed and picked it up. "Alright, where are you?" he looked around, then spotted Batman on one of the fire escapes by a nearby building. He made it look like he had found something relevant to the situation and walked over between the buildings. When he made it just a couple of feet away from Bruce's spot, he held up the silver bat and tossed it up.

Bruce caught it. "Anything new?"

Jim shook his head no. "And Sara?"

"Safe at home." Bruce replied. He looked around. "Has The Joker made any more threats?"

"Not yet." Jim replied, looking back at the scene.

Bruce nodded, then looked up, seeing a young officer looking around, mouthing 'Gordon'. He hadn't seen the commissioner yet. "You've got company." He pointed out.

Jim turned, now seeing the officer where Bruce had looked. "Right. I suppose you want more updates somehow? I'm sure you'll find a way to get to me, hm?" he turned back, but the Caped Crusader was gone. He sighed. "No surprise." He went back towards the officer, who looked terrified at this point. "What is it, officer?"

"It's uh, for you uh, sir." The officer was visibly shaking, holding a phone.

Jim frowned, taking it. He didn't know what to expect. "Hello?"

"Hello, _Commissioner_."

Jim frowned. He knew the voice. It was the clown menace himself. "Joker." He deadpanned a greeting.

"Ah, good. You do remember me."

Jim would've usually said something like "It's hard not to", but he didn't want to give the maniac the satisfaction. "What's this about? Demands?"

"You could say that-a." came the reply. "But first, how've ya been? It's been months, hasn't it?"

"I'm not playing games with you. You tell me what you want, or I hang up." Jim threatened, signaling for a few of his team to come by, then pointed at one of the kits one of them had- the portable phone signal tracer.

"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that. You won't get anywhere."

Jim froze, then started looking around at the buildings. So the Joker had to be around there somewhere if he saw him try to get the kit. "What's this about? Who are you trying to get at now?"

"Well, that's a crazy question, don'tcha think, Commissioner? That's almost as… batty as me, don't you think? Hey, how is the old bat, after all? Still defending the city?"

"Who. Are. You. After?"

"Ah, everybody, commissioner. You know that. But let's make a deal, shall we?"

Jim tensed. "Which is?"

"Let's start with you and your men. What's black and white and red all over?"

Jim twitched, wondering what the clown was getting at. "…A newspaper?"

"Wrong, Commissioner?"

"Then what?" Jim was growing impatient. Why he hadn't sooner was a mystery to him. Maybe his officer side was just getting too patient.

"Hm. I didn't make myself clear, then. The city street is black and white, but the red is gonna come in after the finale. Goodbye, commissioner."

Jim just stared briefly as the other line went dead, trying to register what the maniac had meant- until it hit him. Half of the Gotham Police Department was here for a bomb threat. The black and white meant the street like he said, but what did the..? He paled. Joker's favorite red thing- blood. Goodbye, commissioner. The two words rang in his head, and he could almost hear the Joker's trademark laughter following it. A bomb. It was probably going to go off any second now. "EVERYBODY DOWN!" He barely got the words out of his mouth before he heard the beginning of an explosion, then neither saw nor heard anything.

"No! You guys have to take it easy here in my-" Sarah stopped her tirade directed at her friends when she heard the explosion on the television, then static, at least on that channel. "No. No, no,no,no,no!" She ran into the living room and panicked, seeing that the channel was now reduced to static. She changed the channel, and while cartoons were on, she flipped to another news channel that was showing burning buildings, then a map that showed the area she had been only minutes before. "NO!" She screamed again. Her mind was suddenly on one track. Find keys. Get out. Get to car. Get to the site. Throttle her father for staying- if he was still alive, then throttle Bruce for dragging her back home.

A few minutes later, she was at the site. She didn't give a damn if she was in danger. She knew Gotham, and she had seen worse, and nearly been in worse. She practically made it though the border of police offers when someone finally saw her and stopped her. It was Jason, a relatively new officer. Jim had told her the guy was all for the rules. The two had met once or twice. Honestly, Sara hoped they hadn't.

"Miss. Gordon, this place is unsafe. I can't let you pass."

"Try and stop me, Jay." She shot back before heading into the area. Jason grabbed her arm, and she tried to pull against him, then stopped when she Saw Hugh, another officer. Hugh had been around for quite a few years, and was one of the few that Jim really trusted.

"Jase, let her pass. She's a trained nurse."

Sara caught the 'quiet and let me handle this to' look. Hell, with them and the situation, he waas probably thinking '_Shut up annd don't give away that you're not a nurse and only work behind the office desk.'_ She swallowed and nodded.

Jason sighed and stepped aside. "Go right ahead."

Sara smirked at him and was about to go when Hugh caught her arm. She turned back and glowered at him. The glare didn't last long, being that she saw he was holding up a fabric mask for her.

He winked and leaned towards her, letting his voice drop. "Take it. That could get me off the hook a little bit if your dad finds out I let you in."

Sara grinned and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before putting the mask on. "Thanks."

"Uh huh. Now go."

Within another few minutes, Sara was with a small group of firefighters and officers clearing part of the wreckage. What she didn't count on was having someone touch her shoulder. It had been quiet for a while, no one was around, and memories of earlier events caused her to jump and yelp. She whirled around and was ready to punch out the tall man in a skull cap that had scared her, then frowned and realized when he took off the mask- it was Bruce. He had pulled down his own cloth mask to show it was him, but was giving he a 'you've got to be kidding me' look all the same. "Why were you allowed in?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

Sara paused, then the reason hit her. "Right. You're freaking Bruce Wayne. They all clear a line? You know, if you came as Batman, you could've just dropped in right off the… bat- no pun intended."

"Right, 'cause coming in as one of the most wanted men in Gotham would've been wise." Bruce replied, then nodded at a medium sized chunk of debris, indicating that they both move it.

Sara took the end closest to her and lifted. "Well, you're helping officers find their friends who might be trapped in here." She offered.

Bruce shrugged. "True. Speaking of, have you seen Gordon yet?"

Sara winced. "No. I think he might still be… under some of… this." She motioned at the wreckage.

Bruce nodded. "Well then, let's get to work." The two started to help various groups clear wreckage. Bruce barely took off his mask, figuring it would be better if only a select few knew the prince of Gotham was around. A couple of hours went by extremely fast, and by the time the sun started setting and clouds rolled into the city, Bruce and Sara were close to the top of the largest pile of rubble. Sara had stopped to get a drink of water from the bottle that an officer had tossed her. Bruce had settled to join her. "Any word about Gordon?" He called, making his way down.

"No not yet-" She spit out the water.

Bruce snapped to attention and froze. "What?"

"You didn't hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Sara winced. "I think you just stepped on him."

"…What?" Bruce didn't need much longer to figure it out. Within seconds, she was up and where he was. He had to lean back quickly just so she wouldn't plow him over.

"Help me with this piece, will you?" She demanded, starting to dislodge a chuck of a building.

"Sure, but what did you-" Bruce froze once more, hearing a muffled call of help from a voice with a similar inflection. "Shit. Gordon?"

There was another muffled reply.

Bruce grabbed the other side of the piece of wreckage, got it off, then started tossing back smaller pieces. A couple of minutes passed, and the two were successful in getting most of what Jim was trapped under off of him. Once they saw Jim stir, Sara let out a squeak and gave Bruce a tight, moment long hug. "Dad!"

Jim coughed.

Bruce looked around, grabbed his water bottle, then gave a small amount to Gordon. "Easy, Commissioner. We're gonna get you out of here soon. Sara, get some help, will you? I'll stay with him."

"On it." She headed down what remained of the pile to get more officers.

Bruce looked back at Jim. "You still with us, Gordon? Can you feel anything?"

Jim repeatedly opened his mouth and closed it.

Bruce gave him more water. "Try and take it easy. Help's on the way."

Another few minutes passed and Bruce and Sara, along with several others, managed to get Jim all the way free. Within seconds, he was on a gurney, headed for an ambulance. Sarah and Bruce were at his side along the way. While Sara was too relieved to say a thing, Bruce was the one talking to him. "Hey, Commissioner. How are you feeling now? Can you feel this?" He pressed a few points on Jim's arms, and the EMTs were giving him looks as if wondering just how he knew to do that. After a while, Jim finally found his voice.

"I…I don't understand… why do you people keep calling me commissioner?"

Bruce let out a single laugh, but it was more nervous than anything. " Because you are, Commissioner, sir. Commissioner of Gotham."

Jim just blinked at him for a moment. "And who are you?"

Bruce frowned. "Bruce Wayne…" He slowed down

Jim pointed at Sara. "And you?… Who's _anybody_ here? Where am I? What's going on? "

Sara just about tripped over Bruce's feet.

Jim Gordon had lost his memory.


	7. Author's Note

**Sorry Peeps, this isn't a chapter. This is more just me saying I haven't given up on this fic, even if it has been almost a couple of years. Life's just been kicking my ass as of late. I will, however, be revamping/redoing a bit in the next couple of weeks. I'm gonna de-Mary Sue the girls and throw Edward Nigma in a few scenes. I'm also gonna ask if any of you are still around, and if you are if you're willing to stick with me once I do that. I promise I won't allow another update gap like this to happen. So, any takers? Anyone at all? **

**- PCL**


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